PROGRESS
FLORIDA IN THE NEWS
Progressives Warn State Lawmakers About ALEC's Influence
By Ashley Lopez
WLRN – South Florida’s NPR
Progress Florida and Florida Watch Action-- two influential progressive groups in the state-- have launched a preemptive attack on the influence of ALEC in the Florida Legislature.
FEATURED
STORIES
Governor’s jobs czar leaves after stir over having taken jobless benefits
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Related: Debacle of firing state jobs czar could have been prevented with 3 simple questions
Gov. Rick Scott, who has made improving Florida’s economy his signature issue, was dealt a setback Tuesday when his hand-picked jobs czar resigned Tuesday rather than face lingering questions about jobless benefits he received.
State elections officials to investigate voting problems in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties
By Steve Bousquet
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner told a Senate committee Tuesday morning that he plans to dispatch a team of experts to Miami-Dade next week to investigate more fully the “problems” with the recent election, including long lines at the polls and an overwhelming surge of last-minute absentee ballots.
After convention, Obama team went all out to win Florida
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
For Democratic presidential candidates, Florida has long been a risky bet.
Ryan, Rubio plot party future as 2016 talk starts
By Philip Elliott
Associated Press
Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio, two potential 2016 presidential candidates, laid out policy prescriptions for their Republican Party on Tuesday night, nudging a party still smarting from Mitt Romney's loss to President Barack Obama to reach out to a broader audience.
Rubio votes against U.N. disabilities treaty
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
The treaty calls for equal rights for disabled people and is modeled after the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.
Gov. Rick Scott, other GOP governors want health care meeting with Obama
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Florida Gov. Rick Scott and 10 other Republican governors are asking to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss the impacts of the new health care law.
FLORIDA
POLITICS
Florida judge hearing 6 election fraud cases
Associated Press
Palm Beach Post
A judge is hearing motions to dismiss election fraud charges against six defendants, including a suspended school board member in a rural north Florida county.
Gaetz briefs Senate committee chairs on his plans
By Bill Cotterell
Florida Current
Senate President Don Gaetz told committee chieftains to run their own committees Tuesday -- after routinely checking with him to weed out "bad bills" and those that have no realistic prospects of passage.
Another embarrassment for Gov. Rick Scott
By Wayne Ezell
Florida Times-Union
Gov. Rick Scott's "jobs czar" is out of that job after admitting that he drew unemployment benefits for nearly two years during which he and his wife took several trips to Europe.
The 2012 Lie of the Year Finalists
By Angie Drobnic Holan
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald PolitiFact
PolitiFact will soon announce our Lie of the Year -- the most significant falsehood of 2012, as chosen by our editors and reporters.
Change voting laws
Editorial
Pensacola News Journal
We hope the state Legislature seriously considers changes to our voting laws.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY
Questions about fertilizer legislation raised in opening House committee meeting
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
The chairman of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee said Tuesday he expects fertilizer legislation to come up again this year but added that he'd prefer that the parties involved work out the issues among themselves.
EDUCATION
Against tuition debate, Florida universities plan funding announcement
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
University presidents and student leaders will convene at the Capitol this morning to roll out their new funding campaign.
Jeb Bush makes case for more online university courses
By Tia Mitchell
Tampa Bay Times
Last year, House Speaker Will Weatherford said the state should create an online university and a Board of Governors task force recently released a report on the state's opinions.
Florida Board of Education to consider new FCAT, EOC passing scores
By Jeff Solochek
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida Board of Education ran into some major opposition in 2011 when setting higher passing scores for the state's revised FCAT exams.
School officials concerned about costs, funding for state-mandated e-learning transition
By Brittany Shammas
Naples Daily News
Lee County School Board members understand the need to expand digital learning opportunities for students.
Teachers upset with newly released appraisals
By Joey Flechas
Gainesville Sun
Kelly Moore has students from all grades pass through her library.
Wild spending at charter school warrants probe
Editorial
Orlando Sentinel
In June, NorthStar High closed after a sorry, years-long stretch of poor performance.
JOBS,
BUDGET, AND ECONOMY
Citizens loan deal draws criticism at House panel hearing in Tallahassee
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
A controversial program to shrink the size of the Citizens Property Insurance Corp. by spending $350 million to encourage private companies to take over business came under fire from all sides on Tuesday as the state-run insurer made its first appearance before a House committee.
Florida highway agency may be headed to court over license plates
By Brittany Alana Davis
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles may be on the road to court after failed attempts Tuesday to settle a dispute over who will make and distribute the state’s new license tags.
The insane position on 'never, ever' raising tax rates
By Martin Dyckman
Florida Voices
The current battle of the deficit owes to waging two wars on credit cards while simultaneously cutting taxes to reward special constituencies.
Boeher, Republicans must give on income tax rates
Editorial
Palm Beach Post
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, still won’t acknowledge what happened on Nov. 6.
Florida workplace fatalities near record low in 2011
By Jeff Harrington
Tampa Bay Times
Workplace fatalities in Florida remained near a record low in 2011, with construction once again accounting for the highest number of deaths, according to a government report released Tuesday.
HEALTH
AND SENIORS
Florida Tea Party Still Fighting Obamacare
By Stephanie Mencimer
Mother Jones
Ever since Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the state of Florida has done everything it can to fight the law.
DCF wants its kids out of nursing homes
By Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
With Florida under heavy fire for funneling sick and disabled children into nursing homes designed for elders, child welfare administrators have quietly enacted a new policy aimed at keeping sick foster kids in community settings.
State seeks decision on Medicaid managed care
News Service of Florida
Saint Petersblog
The federal government is expected to make a decision by the end of February about a key part of Florida’s proposal to transform its Medicaid program into a statewide managed-care system.
Florida docs to see higher Medicaid payment rates
News Service of Florida
Saint Petersblog
While Florida Republican leaders grapple with carrying out the federal Affordable Care Act, the state’s primary-care physicians are poised to get a raise Jan. 1 if they treat Medicaid patients.
CIVIL
RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES
About 15,000 young immigrants in Florida apply to avoid deportation
By Eloísa Ruano González
Orlando Sentinel
About 15,000 young illegal immigrants in Florida have stepped out of the shadows to apply for protection against deportation since federal officials started accepting applications in August.
Jeb Bush Jr. and conservatives lead push for immigration overhaul
By William E. Gibson
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Jeb Bush Jr. and like-minded moderate-to-conservative activists from across the country say the time has finally come to transform the nation's immigration system and legalize millions of undocumented immigrants in Florida and around the nation.
JUSTICE
AND THE COURTS
Judge mostly rejects Fla. prison medical outsourcing
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
For the second time in over a year, a state judge has ruled that the Florida Legislature violated the law when it tried to privatize the state’s role in operating prisons.
CFO Jeff Atwater, Gov. Rick Scott settle 'Taj Mahal' art case
By Lucy Morgan
Tampa Bay Times
After two years, two lawsuits and seven appeals, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday agreed to pay Signature Art Gallery for framed photos ordered by judges at the 1st District Court of Appeal.
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